University of California eye researcher Dr. Bill Stell, chair of Vision Quest Conference, said "Research is progressing rapidly in the areas of gene therapy, stem cell research and encapsulated cell technology." He added, "Some types of blindness could be prevented and some vision could be restored to the blind within five, 10 or 15 years". In India Dr. Virendar Sangwan & Dr. Geeta Vemuganti has perfected corneal transplant using cornea created from adult stem cells.

Eye surgeon Virendar Sangwan has perfected a procedure so cutting-edge that most who have tried it have failed. In an operating theater in the central Indian city of Hyderabad, he surgically implants corneas grown in a petri dish from stem cells by his colleague Geeta Vemuganti in patients with damaged eyes. Together they perform about 80 corneal regeneration procedures a year, making the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute where they work one of the most prolific facilities in the world using stem cells to regenerate tissue of any kind.

Sangwan says he had a number of patients with burned eyes who could not be helped with standard corneal transplants from cadavers, so he persuaded Vemuganti to try growing corneas in her lab. "You know how to grow cells, and I know how to do the transplant surgery," Vemuganti recalls him saying. "Why don't we work together?" She smiles and shakes her head. "I had no clue if this was going to work."

Vemuganti's major innovation was developing a platform on which to grow the corneas. First she designed a circular glass tube about the size of a stack of coins. "I had the handyman here cut the glass for me," she says. Then she overlaid the glass with tissue from a human placenta, which is "a good surface to grow the corneas on," she says. After that she placed stem cells in four places around a circle, added a growth medium, and watched the corneas begin to grow. Source: CNN

January 20th, 2009 Vision loss is a serious condition that dramatically affects the lives of millions of people around the world. Diseases affecting the cornea are a major cause of blindness worldwide, second only to cataract in overall importance.

November 8th, 2005 Edward Bailey, 65 lost the sight in his left eye caused by an accidental drop of caustic soda in his eye at work. After two unsuccessful corneal transplants, he underwent a pioneering stem cell operation that restored his vision.

May 27th, 2009 Australian scientists have invented a very simple but ground breaking procedure to help improved vision of people who are suffering from damage cornea. In a human trial researchers from the University of New South Walse used their amazing technique to treat three patients successfully.

December 18th, 2005 Dr. Mark Gorovoy, an eye surgeon from south Fort Myers in Florida, is radically changing the way corneal transplants are being done around the world, while cutting down on healing time and reducing the risk of future visual injuries. He is referred to as one of the top experts in the world on the procedure called deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty, or DLEK.

December 10th, 2008 It can be called another Indo-Japan tie up. Chennai based Rajan Eye Care Hospital decides to hold hand with Nichi-In Centre for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM), to facilitate stem cell research.